Obama & the Fly

While people contrast Bush and Obama, they do have some things in common. Both men were elected President. Both men have ninja-like reflexes. Bush demostrated his skill by deftly dodging shoes hurled at him. Obama showed his lightning reflexes by smacking a fly. Perhaps this is a good sign for him-after all, a hero once got his start by killing flies.

While some folks think the death of the fly was cool, PETA folks are not amused. While not strongly condeming this murderous act, PETA did decide to send the President a device for capturing bugs without harming them. Rumor has it that he already tried it on Joe Biden during one of Joe’s notable off topic adventures.

Now, it might seem silly to be upset by the death of a fly. Mainly because it…well…is silly. That said, I somewhat agree with PETA. As a general moral rule, I try to avoid harming living things and damaging non-living things. My principle is that it is right to avoid doing harm. This is based on the notion that destroying and harming things creates negative worth and that seems both immoral and irrational. I’ll even take effort to help out other living things. To use a serious example, I have two rescued cats (Zax and Ash) and an adopted dog (Isis). To use a silly example, I rescued a bee from the pool this morning. Though bees probably do not think much, I’m sure they do not enjoy drowning. I know I would not, so I rescued it out of sympathy.

Of course, I don’t cross over into the realm of madness when it comes to this. I fully accept that I can harm others to protect myself or others in legitimate circumstances. Since my principle is based on a notion of value/worth, I set the bar lower for creatures of lower worth. So, it would take a great deal for me to be justified in killing a human being. A person would, for example, have to be trying to serious harm me or some innocent person. In the case of flies, I believe I am justified in killing them when they try to bite me or seriously annoy me. Interesting, shortly after I rescued the bee, another bug landed on me and stung me. That little bastard got a quick trip to bug hell.

Carter had gone on a solo fishing expedition in his hometown of Plains, Georgia when the rabbit approached his boat, “hissing menacingly, its teeth flashing and nostrils flared and making straight for the president”,[1] trying desperately to enter the boat, causing Carter to flail at the swimming creature with the oars from his boat.

Jimmy Carter: “I was almost killed by a f@cking rabbit. Y’all need to do something about that.”
Secret Service: “We can guard you at all times, never leaving you alone.”
Jimmy: “No, that isn’t enough. What if someone throws shoes at me? Or a fly comes after me? Or another crazy Monty Python killer rabbit tries to make me his bunny bitch?”
Mysterious Government Agent: “We have just the thing, Mr. President.”
Jimmy: “Who the f@ck are you?”
MGA: “A mysterious government agent, from a mysterious government agency.”
Jimmy: “Um, okay. What’s your solution?”
MGA: “I have a shot that will speed your reflexes up, giving you the ability to evade bunnies, dodge shoes and smack flies.”
Jimmy: “Okay. Will future Presidents get this as well?”
MGA: “Of course. Can you imagine the humiliation America would suffer if a President was defeated by a bunny? Or a shoe? Or, God forbid, a fly?”
Jimmy: “Does this have any side effects?”
MGA: “Um, maybe some minor ones. Nothing to worry about, though.”
Jimmy: “Okay, gimme the shot.”

Too many. People should be more responsible. When the college year ends here, the number of abandoned animals goes up (that is how my ex-wife and I ended up with a German Shepperd). People also get pets thinking they will be “cool” or a good way to meet people-then they find out that a pet is a lot of work. Some people meet the challenge, but some just dump the poor critters. Unfortunately, cats and dogs cannot just go back into the wild and do fine-so they end up in the shelter and all too often end up dead.

I tend to hold a similar point of view– I once captured and released over a dozen yellow jackets in one afternoon before I figured out how they got into the house. I was always especially sympathetic to mosquitoes, since the ones who suck blood are mothers who need it for egg development.

I don’t see this attitude as one that I would necessarily campaign for others to uphold, however. I think that personal intuition has a role in setting boundaries in what may perhaps be fuzzy territory.

Because they spread parasites and disease, I don’t have any qualms about killing mosquitoes. Although they are obviously not to blame for what they are, killing them is justified on the grounds of self defense.

Oh, I kill mosquitoes too, but I do it sympathetically 😉 And it admittedly has more to do with my own comfort/annoyance levels, since where I live there’s no significant health risk to my getting bitten by one (no malaria, and while I suppose there’s a slim risk of West Nile, it’s really not a significant one– as the CDC says, “Even in areas where the virus is circulating, very few mosquitoes are infected with the virus. Even if the mosquito is infected, less than 1% of people who get bitten and become infected will get severely ill”).

And of course flies can also spread parasites and disease (for example, according to an Ohio State University Extension fact sheet, house flies can spread conjunctivitis, poliomyelitis, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, anthrax, leprosy, cholera, diarrhea and dysentery), so I wonder why self-defense is the justification for mosquitoes but annoyance is the justification for flies? Or am I misunderstanding what you said, and you meant the two were analogous?